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[vc_row el_class=”olive-branch-bg-r”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Does God condemn us for wrong belief?<\/p>\n

No!<\/em><\/p>\n

A part of me wishes I could end this article right here. God\u2019s everlasting, unconditional love does not and never will penalize us for falling short in our faith or understanding. Amen.<\/p>\n

And yet, my conviction in God\u2019s unfailing mercy has been cultivated through years of struggle and doubt. I\u2019ve wrestled with questions and felt crushed by anxiety. And I know that when you\u2019re caught up in the throes of this struggle, wondering what or whether to believe, hearing a boisterous declaration of God\u2019s love can seem like a callous boast when such confidence still eludes you. I\u2019ve asked this question in earnest and needed more than a one-word answer. So, here\u2019s more:<\/p>\n

God does not condemn us for wrong belief. Rather, God gently guides us into right relationship \u2013 with God\u2019s self and with one-another.<\/p>\n

Bound up in the questions of whether God condemns us for wrong belief are two more specific questions: \u201cIs God violent?\u201d and \u201cWhat is belief?\u201d The answer to both of these questions is found in love, and love is found not in isolation of the mind, but in relational living.<\/p>\n

As I reflect on the formation of my faith, what stands out to me, more than my ponderings and prayers, are the people who have walked alongside me on my path. And so, as I open a window to show glimpses of my journey and my companions along the way, I invite you to consider the people who have inspired or shared your questions, doubts, or epiphanies. Because more than any doctrine or creed, it\u2019s our loved ones who best reveal to us that God is Love, and that we are made not for judgment but relationship.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566306295282{background-image: url(https:\/\/ravenfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/0c0caab3a0b06f49d1f4e4069f7acecc-e1562958862845.jpg?id=19638) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”quote”]<\/p>\n

Trust is relationship. Trust is the vulnerability of placing your life in the hands of others…<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Is God Violent?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]My meandering faith journey \u2013 through doubts and fears, through Christianity and Islam and back again \u2013 \u00a0began in anxiety. I wondered if my faith would ever be sufficient for God \u2013 if God existed at all \u2013 and agonized over what might happen to those who couldn\u2019t believe.<\/p>\n

Actually, that\u2019s not quite true. While I was haunted by fears that came from literal interpretations of the scary parts of scripture mixed with popular cultural depictions of hell just about as far back as I can remember\u2026 still, the true origin of my faith journey was Love.<\/p>\n

It was love from and for my mother that made me yearn so strongly for a steadfast faith in the God she knew as Love. It was my mother who took me to the church that became a second home, where best friends and wonderful memories were made. I delighted in singing hymns and memorizing prayers and being part of the community. And I found a model of perfect love in Jesus as I learned about his life and ministry of healing the sick and embracing the outcast.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”20355″ img_size=”large”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]But it was love from and for my father that made me question the character and existence of the God that he denied. Like my mother, he had grown up in the church as the child of a minister, but unlike her, he had left the religion of his upbringing when he couldn\u2019t wrap his mind around the logical inconsistencies or his heart around the moral atrocities of scripture.<\/p>\n

I credited \u2013 or blamed \u2013 his rejection of scripture for my own skeptical eye upon it. I tried not to worry too much about the scientific inconsistencies because almost all of the adults I knew believed in both science and the Bible and taught me not to interpret scripture literally. I told myself I would understand with time.<\/p>\n

But where I had the most trouble suspending disbelief was when it came to reconciling all the violence attributed to God with Love.<\/em> The most loving, compassionate man I knew, the man who lived to make me happy, who modeled to me civil resistance to injustice and conscientious objection to war, didn\u2019t believe in God. And it didn\u2019t take long for me to find reasons to admire him for his lack of faith even as I was frightened of what might happen to him or to me if our faith were insufficient for a God who, if the Bible were true, apparently<\/p>\n